by S A Ison
She’d fallen asleep for a bit, but then the cramps in her bowels would start up again and she’d crap a long painful stream of hot acid water. Then she was so exhausted, she’d lay her head back down, ignoring the stench around her. It was sometime later, she couldn’t even tell how long, time had lost its meaning and she heard someone calling her name. She tried to lift her head, but could not. Then she tried to call out, “Here, I’m here.” But it was a squeak. She drank more water and tried again, this time louder.
“I’m here, someone help me, I’m here.” She called and then tried to pull up her pants. She was pulling them up when another cramp and jet of hot burning water flew out of her rump and got all over her hands and pants. She cried then, and tried to crawl to the water. She heard the people coming closer, calling her more frantically. She didn’t know if she wanted them to find her like this.
She struggled to the pond and wiggled in. Then called to them once more. She could now hear bushes moving and branches breaking. She began to cry louder, as she cramped again, and shit in the water, her whole body was now in the pond. Dan Miller, and Luke Moore came through the trees and she saw them and lifted a hand up. Then she passed out, her face falling into the water.
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Dan ran quickly and jerked Carol’s unconscious body out of the dirty water. He heard Luke gagging and yelled, “Help me damnit, she’s heavy.”
Luke grabbed one of Carol’s arms and helped Dan drag her out of the pond. Her jeans were down around her ankles and they put her on the ground, away from the vomit and vileness. Dan started to jerk her wet jeans up, then looked at Luke who was just staring.
“Stop staring for Christ’s sake and help me get her pants up. She’s breathing thank god, I’d hate to give her mouth to mouth, I think she’s been puking and shitting all night. Hurry up, we need to get her back to base camp. And start yelling that we have her.” He finally finished pulling the wet jeans up, sweat pouring off his full face and managed to get his shoulder under her arm. Luke got on the other side and both men dragged her limp body, all the while Luke called out that they had found her.
Dan thought that she was in bad shape, he’d seen blood in both the vomit and her diarrhea. He didn’t know if she ate something poisonous or if she drank unclean water, but what ever the case, she wasn’t in any shape to continue. He was pissed at Grayson, that bastard was too old to act like that.
Dan had three teenage daughters and each one was a pain in the ass, the oldest seventeen going on thirty. But Christ, you don’t let them self-destruct. Carol wasn’t Grayson’s daughter, he didn’t even know if Grayson had kids, he hoped not, by the way he’d treated this girl.
But Grayson was older and knew better. Carol in his eyes, was still a kid, stupid and vulnerable. The fact that Grayson didn’t give a rat’s ass really bothered Dan. He’d hate to think if one of his daughters were out here, and Grayson had treated her like this, he’d bust him in the chops. There wasn’t much to Carol, but she was dead weight and heavy as hell. He was breathing heavily and he’d not had much to eat. He hoped he wouldn’t have a friggen heart attack.
They were days from nowhere, and he’d be a dead man. He would haunt the shit out of Grayson if he did drop dead. He was glad Luke was yelling, he didn’t have the breath for it. He had a few choice words when he saw Grayson, but for now, they needed to get this young woman to base camp.
They saw Sarah and Aiden below and called to them. Aiden came running and took the girl from their shoulders, he slung her easily up on his shoulder and began running downhill, Sarah following behind. Now they were also calling that Carol had been found. It took twenty minutes, but the five of them made it to main camp. William and Diana were there, and Dan was glad that they were nurses. William dug around and pulled out a bag of saline and hooked it to the top of the tent. Diana opened the med kit and took out some sterile wipes and cleaned the area on her arm and then William inserted the needle. Carol moaned and whimpered.
“We found her in a small pond, she had bloody diarrhea all around and also bloody vomit.” Dan said.
“Did you see if she’d eaten anything, were there any plant matter or chewed up berries in the vomit?” Diana asked.
“No, just bile.” Dan said, shaking his head, that poor kid was in a bad way, but he hoped they could help her, she was pale as a sheet and he could easily see the blue veins beneath the skin.
“See if they have anything for vomiting and diarrhea in the med kit.” Diana asked William.
Dan walked over to Aiden and Sarah, he didn’t see Luke. They all stood watching as Diana and William worked away. Dan hit Aiden on the back with the palm of his hand. “Thanks for helping man, I appreciate it. You seen that Grayson dick anywhere?”
“No, I’m not even sure he is out looking.” Aiden said darkly, and looked up to see Marla and Christian walking out of the trees. Dan followed his eyes and saw the two.
“We found her, she’s not doing too good, but Diana and William are working on her now.” Dan said as the two reached them.
“Thank God, where is Grayson?” Marla asked, looking around.
“No clue, he’s probably napping in his log.” Aiden said angrily.
“Okay, you all can go back to what you were doing, hunting and gathering. Let everyone know as you see them, that she’s been found. We’ll take it from here.” Marla announced. Dan nodded to her and then to Aiden and turned and went to look for Luke. He wondered where the kid got to.
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Everyone headed in their own directions, Aiden led the way back to the cave. He looked over his shoulder at Sarah, who was looking back at the scene below in camp. “Come on, let’s go exploring. I wanted to head north east to the hilly section. She’s in good hands, they’ll fix her right up.” He said, smiling at Sarah. He liked her, she was a good person. He wanted to get her mind off the drama and they needed to scout out some potential food sources.
They also needed to get more meat, they’d finished off the snake this morning. It wasn’t half bad cold. She had done a great job with the plants that she’d found, and he felt lucky that she was on his team. She smiled up at him, and his smile widened. He’d seen on other shows that couples hooked up. He wasn’t sure he’d just want a quick hook up, she didn’t seem like the hit it and quit it type.
They stopped by their cave and got four bottles. Sarah grinned and pulled out three more bottles from her backpack.
“I’m a thief, I admit it, I’m going to hell and that’s all I’ll say about it. I’m going to bury the other bottles in the back of the cave, don’t want any nosy neighbors finding out what we have.” She laughed, her eyes crinkling into green triangles. Aiden noticed she had a small gap between her front teeth.
“I didn’t even see you hanging out by the garbage, you are sneaky woman.” Aiden sniggered, waggling his dark eyebrows. They headed to the waterfall to fill up their water bottles. They both stood and drank by the noisy water, gulping down as much as they could drink. Then put the full bottles into their empty packs. He watched as Sarah washed her face in the rushing water, and decided he too needed a quick washing. The water was cold, it had tasted wonderful, but chilled his dark skin.
His beard had grown out quite a bit over the last week and a half since leaving stateside. So, had his hair, he normally wore it in a short military cut, but no barber around, it was getting long. He hoped it wouldn’t drive him crazy, maybe he’d let Sarah cut it with the machete and laughed to himself. More as not, he’d get his head cut off. “How are we going to wash our hair by the way? I’m feeling kinda gross.”
“If we can find a pond or lake with sand, we can use the sand to wash our hair. It will essentially take the oils out. I can look around for Chinese soapberry or soap nut. I was trying to learn about making my own shampoo and came across that on the internet. I didn’t even think much about it, because it was in China, and it makes me laugh, because now we are here. If I see the tree I’ll recognize it. It also helps with migraines, so if
we find it, I can also use it for headaches. Maybe Grayson will want some. What a jerk. Anyway, we can also use it to wash our clothes.” She said and he looked at her and shook his head grinning.
“What?” she laughed.
“Nothing, it is just surprising the information you have in that head of yours. Pretty and smart. I bet Grayson is just kicking himself.” He laughed exaggeratedly, his shoulders bouncing up and down. She punched him and shook her head.
They left the falls and began walking north east, and the flora began to change. It began to thin out. They stopped from time to time to pick berries and try them. Several were delicious, so they ate their fill. There were other poisonous ones they avoided. Sarah found more tubers and she put them into her pack and also gathered more ginger root and more thin onions.
“We need to keep these locations in mind, so when we go foraging, we don’t over use our areas, I don’t think it would take long to devastate what we find.”
“I’m damn glad you know your plants Sarah, I know some, and I can eat the hell out of a grub, but the finer points on plants is lost on me.” Aiden said, taking a drink from his bottle.
“Honestly, most of them I don’t know. But if it has a root on it, and it tastes starchy, we are good. Also, see those small green ones with the long stem with tiny flowers? I think those are common broadleaf plantains, and no, not the banana kind. These leaves are good for you, and to me, kind of taste like coconut. I’ll try one, and if it is, then it is something we can eat. They are a little bitter, like dandelion greens, but so good for you. We have them in Maine. It is funny, because this place is so far removed and so alien to me, and yet here are some of the same plants I find at home.” She said and picked one of the green leaves and put it into her mouth.
He watched her carefully as she chewed it and she smiled and nodded her head. He picked a handful and popped them into his mouth, chewing. He made a face and she laughed.
“We have these up in Maine, I think these are one of those plants that are all over the world. They are bitter, but not bad, and they beat grubs.” She laughed again.
“Not bad, and they do taste a little like coconut, though I’d rather have one of those. I guess we can graze as we walk.”
“This really is paradise, it is so untouched. No wonder they keep it restricted access. I think too many people would really ruin it here. It is peaceful, it reminds me of the woods at home.” Sarah said, sticking a few more leaves in her mouth to eat. She stopped and picked some berries, and ate them. He ate some too, he was glad they wouldn’t go hungry. That was one of the biggest challenges they faced, finding enough food.
This place had plenty of it, you just had to know where to look. But they needed protein, and he kept his eye out for anything that hopped, crawled or flew. She’d brought her spear, but was using the blunt end as a walking stick. He grinned, he’d have to teach her to hunt.
They came up on a small hill and found a large tree with some kind of nuts. There were nuts all over the ground and they saw some kind of macaque, its face slightly red. He nudged her, and he took the spear from her, putting his finger to his mouth. The macaque was about fifteen feet away, sitting on a low limb, its back to them. He’d only thrown spears in fun, growing up. He’d never had his life depend on a hit.
He didn’t know what macaque tasted like, but it was meat, and fat. He pulled back his arm and threw as hard as he could. The spear shot past the macaque who screamed in warning and all of a sudden, about twenty flew out of the trees around them and disappeared. He’d missed, and wasn’t happy about it.
“I think we need to make more spears and practice. Our lives could depend on it. Sorry, no meat.” He shrugged.
“That’s okay, there are all these nuts on the ground, they have plenty of protein and fat. We can crack a few now, and then take a bunch back to the cave and bury them. That way, we’ll have plenty on hand for like a breakfast. I can try to make a nut pancake with the berries we found and mix it with ground tuber.” She smiled up at him.
Both sat down and each found a couple rocks to break the large nuts. It was a bit of work and took a bit of practice hitting them just right. The meat inside was delicious, like a Brazil nut, but less bitter. They scattered the shells and after a bit stopped.
“I hate to say it, but I’m full.” He laughed, his dark eyes squinting up in humor. He began to fill his bag with nuts. Sarah did the same. They looked around, there were still lots, thousands of nuts on the ground. He shook his head. Plenty to eat, for now. He thought perhaps they’d come back tomorrow and get more, and store them away. They continued on until Sarah started hopping around pointing.
“That’s it, that’s the soapberry tree, at least I think it is. Let’s pick some and when we find a pond or stream, we can try them out. If it works, then when we get back, we can wash our clothes. Oh man, that would be great to have clean clothes and clean hair.”
“Hell yeah, I don’t think I’ve stunk this bad since I was in the SEALs on a mission.” He laughed and sniffed at his armpits with exaggeration and made a face. He staggered around a bit and fell to the ground and his tongue stuck out to the side. He saw her blush and hoped she didn’t think he was talking about her. He could smell her, but she really didn’t stink too bad. It was a natural body odor.
He got back up and they went to the tree. They gathered the berries, which almost looked like hard nuts, and he suggested they start back for the cave. It was getting late and he didn’t want to be far from their home when it got dark. They took a more southerly route back and came upon a small streamlet, they took out their berries and wet them, and then their hair. Rubbing the berries together, they began to leach out a lather. Rubbing it in his hair, it tingled a bit, and he hoped it wouldn’t make his hair fall out.
He grinned as he watched Sarah do the same, her shoulder length hair was lathered, though not quite like normal shampoo. Both rinsed their hair, and she leaned over and asked him to smell her hair, he smiled at her trust in him.
“Smells clean, how about me?” he asked, and he heard her sniff like a dog and laughed at her and splashed her.
“What was that for?” she cried indignantly.
“You sounded like a dog sniffing for treats, I think your soapberries work. When we get back, we can wash some of our things out and let them dry. Let’s get back, I can’t wait to take a shower in the waterfall and wash this grime off me.”
They walked for almost an hour without talking, it was peaceful in the darkening woods. The air was beginning to cool. They heard insects chirping in the woodland and birds calling, settling in the branches above, settling in for the night. They heard an animal cry, and he saw Sarah shiver. Their footsteps were quiet in the dead leaves and pine needles. Then Sarah’s hand shot out to stop him, and he looked at her. She mouthed the word snake and pointed.
Ahead of them was a large snake and from the shape of the head, it was venomous. It was a big damn snake too, nearly five feet and fat as hell. He pushed her back and raised up his machete, he carefully angled his body, it was laying across a branch, damn near invisible. They’d have walked right past without seeing it. He got as close as he dared, he didn’t know the striking distance of it and didn’t want to test it.
He brought the machete down swiftly and cut the branch and the head off the snake, its large body coiling in on itself, writhing and rolling around on the ground. The heavy body flipped and twisted toward him and he stepped back.
“Good eye, how the hell did you see it?”
“I don’t know, I was just looking around for more berries, or fruits and then I saw it and had to look again. Geeze, that is a huge snake. I know what we are having for dinner.” She laughed.
They reached their cave and Sarah came back out, her face red. “What’s the matter?” he asked, alarmed.
“Someone’s been in our cave, they took the ginger root. The water is still there, thank god, but someone stole our stuff.” She said angrily, looking around to see if she could
see the culprit, her green eyes fairly threw out sparks.
“I’ll say something at the meeting, we’d better get going. Let’s keep our backpacks with us, I don’t want anyone steeling our nuts. I’ll bury the snake in the bushes, it should be safe there while we are gone.”
“Yeah, we’ll want to keep our nuts safe.” She said too innocently and he shoved her and laughed.
They made their way to the main camp, he could hear Sarah muttering to herself, still stewing about the theft. It pissed him off as well, they’d have to be careful with their food, maybe find a place to store and hide it. When they got to the meeting place, they took their seats. They could see Carol sitting there, among the others, she was sitting beside Vana who had her arm around her. They looked for Grayson, but he wasn’t there. No surprise.
“Okay folks, as you can see, Carol is doing better. Thank you, William and Diana, for all your help. Thank you, Dan and Luke for finding her and Aiden as well for bringing her back. We appreciate it. Yes Sarah?” Marla asked.
“Someone went into our cave and stole our food. It wasn’t much, just some ginger, but that is some bullshit. Is that even allowed? I busted my ass looking for that, and someone just walks off with it. You can’t eat it, it is just a seasoning. If who ever took it puts it back I’ll drop it. But I’m not going to sit here while I bust my ass and someone steals from us.” She said, looking around, her green eyes narrowed in hostility. There were low murmurs, some shocked some angry. People looked around, and Aiden could see suspicion grow in their faces.
“Okay, listen up. That will get you disqualified, anyone caught stealing food from other contestants will be kicked off the show. You people know that it is going to be a rough two months. We don’t need you cheating and yes, that is cheating. We will be holding our elimination in four days. But if we find out who has been stealing, you, whoever you are will go first.” There was a round of applause and Aiden watched faces, trying to detect anyone who could have done it.
